Duck Trap Wherry

[Roy Morford]

Yesterday I ordered the 12mm ply for the keel and purchased some AYC to turn into the stem and transom knee. This should keep me occupied for a little while.

[Powerwagon]

Just saw your thread and am following along. Looking good so far, I'm interested to see it come together.

[Roy Morford]

I'll post some pictures soon. Most of my build follows a thread titled "A Duck Trap Wherry in Utah" where the workmanship is just superb. Also, taking pictures is difficult without wheeling the whole thing onto the driveway - at least that's my excuse.

[Roy Morford]

And so it begins. The first part of the wherry, the transom knee. Based on Gib's advice at #36 I bought some AYC. It was only available rough swan in 1X so bought it, planed it, joined it to make a 2X and cut out the knee. The rest will be sawn into narrow lathes to be glued back together for a composite stem.

October 7, 2020.jpg

[Roy Morford]

Sorry folks, not sure how it came out upside down. I'll try again.October 7, 2020.jpg
Well, that didn't make any difference. I guess it's because I'm building my boat upside down.

[Roy Morford]

Not a very good picture but then I'm not a very good photographer. This is the lamination for the stem half way done. I'll send another pic once it's completed and shaped.
October 9, 2020.jpg

[Roy Morford]

I'll be planing the laminated inner stem today and cutting it to the final shape. Any suggestions for the wood I should use to laminate the outer stem/cutwater? Hardwood obviously and willing to bend when cut to a thein lathe. How about rot resistance?
Thanks.

[Roy Morford]

Thanks Gib. I should have mentioned that I do intend to use brass half oval on both the cutwater and the keel. What I'm concerned about is the best wood for the cutwater itself.

[Roy Morford]

Another small step. The inner stem almost finished. I still have to take off the front corners, equivalent to the plank rebate, leaving 1/2 inch so that, with the planks on either side, I'll end up with a 1 inch thickness. My cutwater will match up also be 1 inch with a 3/4 inch brass half oval. I plan to use some dowels to reinforce the join at the base. Next job will be to cut the 1/2 inch ply and start putting the keel together. Gluing it up will be the easy part. The 14 foot long rolling bevel on either side will test my patience.
October 11, 2020.jpg

[Roy Morford]

Thanks Gib,
I'm not getting any younger and so this may be my last boat. With that in mind I plan to take all the time I need to make it my best boat. The ply hull will be painted but the transom, in and out wales, thwarts, knees, breast hook etc will be from wood which will come alive under several coats of varnish. I love walnut but it does fade so that's not going to be on this boat. I'm thinking in terms of mahogany, oak, cherry, or whatever takes my eye when I'm in the store. Hardware will be bronze whenever I can find what I want without paying a king's ransom. This is a classic design so why not? Anyway, you'll have to be very patient as I plod along. Cheers and Happy Thanksgiving.

[KenStocker]

Just found your thread. I've not seen this design before, she's beautiful! Looks like you have a great start, like the soft round features. I'll be following along!

Ken

[Roy Morford]

Cutting up 1/2 plywood to make the keel. Final keel will be 1inch thick, 14 feet long and 16 inches wide near the centre, tapering to just a couple of inches at either end. October 12, 2020 (2).jpg

[Roy Morford]

The keel is almost complete and taking up a lot of room. While the epoxy is drying I've started cutting the corners of the stem off so that the strakes will fit without having to cut a rebate. I'll be laminating a cutwater, using the stem as a template, and this I'll install after planking is complete.October 13, 2020.jpg

[Roy Morford]

I've just finished cutting out the keel and couldn't resist putting it on the frame to see if it was anywhere close to where it should be. Actually not bad. Now the really hard work begins as I have to cut the long rolling bevels to accommodate the garboard plank. This marine mahogany is really hard (I guess it's the glue rather than the wood) and blunted one of the blades in my jigsaw as I did the cutting. As a result, I wandered from the cut line in a few places but this will be taken care of in the next step. The bevels will likely take a while allowing for taking regular sanity breaks!October 16, 2020.jpg

[Roy Morford]

Good point Gib. Thanks.

[Roy Morford]

Just in case you're wondering, my wherry build is temporarily on hold. I just finished restoring an an antique chair. Painstaking work, very slow and took up too much space in my workshop. I delivered that yesterday and later in the day I was asked by a good friend if I could/would build a garden gate for them. It's a simple pattern and style so it shouldn't take too long but will nevertheless delay my build a little longer. The good thing is that it gives me more time to contemplate my build, what to do and in what order. When I do get started again progress will (I hope) be a little faster because of the thought that's gone into the advance planning. Please be patient.

[Roy Morford]

One step closer. This morning I did the rough cut of the rolling bevel on one side of the keel. I still have a lot more work to do to get this up to an acceptable level. Then I can do the other side and start thinking about ordering my 6mm ply for the planking.
October 28, 2020.jpg

[Roy Morford]

Sorry for the delay, life keeps getting in the way and boat building has to take a back seat! Finally got the keel (almost) completely bevelled and the stem and transom knee epoxied in place. Next job will be to make the transom. I found a great looking mahogany plank with a grain pattern that will (should) look amazing when I cut it in half and book match the pieces. Stay tuned but don't hold your breath.
November 15, 2020.jpg

[Liberty53]

Awesome work!

Great looking work and sweet wood selection. When shopping for wood, it's so satisfying to choose the plank that jumps out at you. I recently bought some purple heart that was vivid and bright against all it's peers. Can't wait to use it.

Keep up the great work.

-Derek

Liberty 53
Scamp #169

[Roy Morford]

Two antique chair restorations and two vintage lamp repairs later and finally I have my transom plank on the sawhorses to decide where to cut. My plan is to cut the great grain pattern portion to the right length, split that in half on the bandsaw, plane it all smooth, flip it to book match it and then start gluing it all together. The outer "wings" of the transom will receive the same treatment. The remainder of the plank will be used as a second lamination with the joints offset. I think this will look amazing (provided I don't make a mess of it). Finding another plank with a grain pattern which so closely matches the transom shape would be near impossible. The gods were smiling on me the day I saw this one.
Plank for transon.jpg

[Roy Morford]

It seems I did something to upset the gods. Yesterday I cut the plank into two thinner planks on the bandsaw, planed them smooth and put them aside. This afternoon I was rather upset (understatement of the year) to find that in the area of the grain that I was looking forward to making my transom the plank had warped and split. I tried gluing it back together and straightening it out but I'm not hopeful. I'll see tomorrow when the epoxy has set up.

[Roy Morford]

Unusable as a transom. I can use it for trim and smaller parts but for the transom I have to find something else. Yesterday afternoon I was offered an old table in need of repair and supposedly with a round, solid mahogany top. It's in storage now but maybe, just maybe, this will become my transom. Stay tuned.

[timo4352]

It will all work out in the end.

[cooldood]

I am thinking maybe I should build one of these since I work for Ducktrap smoked salmon

[Roy Morford]

You don't need a reason to build beautiful boat. Just do it.

[Roy Morford]

Just received this today. Once I've sanded down to bare wood I'll send another picture. First look is good. I think this will make a great transom with lots left over for knees and more.IMG_2341.jpg

[Roy Morford]

Slow but steady. Here is a picture of the mahogany table top after a preliminary sanding. Later today I plan to make a tracing of the transom from the plans and transfer it to the now bare wood. I plan to have the grain horizontal and avoid the darker piece of wood, saving it, and a lot more, for other parts.

December 16, 2020.jpg

[Roy Morford]

And this is where the transom will magically appear. You can see the large amount of wood that will be available for the knees, and other parts later in the build.

December 16, 2020 2.jpg

[Roy Morford]

And finally, the initial cuts to make the final cutting a lot easier. Before I do that I will need to glue some 1/2 inch mahogany to the other side (which will be the inside) to make up a final thickness of 1 1/4 inches.

December 16, 2020 3.jpg

[Roy Morford]

Judging from the colour of the glue on the underside I'm guessing it was hide glue.

[timo4352]

Hope that table top was glued up with waterproof glue.

[Edward Pearson]

Dad bought an Oughtred Gannet with a solid wood transom. I think it was Elm. After a few years the joints had opened up a bit. I can't remember how it was joined now (I think it was just edge glued) but when choosing wood, beside appearance and physical properties etc, I'd want the planks running horizontal and use 'vertical grain/ quarter sawn stock' so the movement with changes in moisture will be minimal. Transoms can get sun on them which heats them up. Elm does move alot though, as hardwoods tend to but elm more than most. So i'd stabilise your wood first in your garage before planing it down. Some woods like iroko also change shape after you cut it out (alot of internal stresses) so I'd bear down on the finished size carefully if it's a wood that does that. The non splitting nature of elm means plank fastenings hold securely into the end grain and it was often specified for transom's in traditional construction.

I'd then consider the joints and you should be doing more than simple edge gluing on a transom. Either tongue and groove or using a durable plywood plywood spline between the planks. I think this is regarded as stronger as it avoids the tongues potentiall snapping off. You'll need a plough plane and a rebate plane if you want to avoid the dust and noise of the router. Dowels too would be an option. I've seen an outer veneer or plywood face glued to the aft surface of a planked transom as well to hold the boards together and show a beautifull grain pattern.

The Duck Trap's transom is relatively small though so I guess movement overall in absolute terms will be less than otherwise. On my Shearwater I got the grain (Sapeli plywood) to swirl around my rudder fittings in a pleasing fashion, so it can worth thinking about that (and where the name is going) too so you get the full effect of any patternation when you're done and an A star. if going for solid varnished transom I'd also want the colours to match carefully otherwise that really shows up. Bookmatching is a thing but depends on your resawing capability. The reds of mahoganies can fade, so I might think about staining for uniformity and darkness for a moment.

With a lapstrake boat your going to be getting down and dirty with all the different plank bevels on the transom, so I'd want to avoid any wood that splits too readily when it's worked - you'll probably end up eyeballing it with a shinto rasp accross the grain unless it's been carefully prelofted for you and it all falls into place with some luck. You can't get into the corners without a rebate low angle plane or carefull use a sharp paring chisel with a low bevel angle. When working accross the grain adjusting fit you need to be carefull about tearout. The Shinto got the job jobbed for me (sapeli plywood transom with an alaskan yellow cedar transom frame).

[Roy Morford]

Thanks for the advice gentlemen. This table top is very old and seasoned. It is 3/4 inches thick. I shall be gluing another 1/2 inch of mahogany planking (also cut from the table top) on the reverse (what will end up on the inside of the boat) and so, provided my joinery and gluing is strong, I don't anticipate any problems. For the record, this is my 5th dinghy with a transom built this way. The first 4 were wider than this one, using kiln dried wood fresh from the store, and all held up well.

[Roy Morford]

Not at all. The trick is to keep it dry.

[Roy Morford]

Transom cut out with my trusty jig saw. Some sanding required to take it exactly to the proper lines and then I can cut and glue the inner planks. These will be placed to overlap the existing joints and make the whole piece strong. I will then use my router to make the new planking outline match and ready for attaching to the keel. Then, as Edward Pearson points out, I shall soon be ready for what is probably the toughest part of the whole build and that is cutting bevels for each plank.

December 19, 2020.jpg